JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AMERICA'S ALMOST CONSTANT USE OF SANCTIONS HAS BECOME A KIND OF MENTAL ILLNESS - BEHAVING AS THE WORLD'S BULLY WITH LAWLESS DISREGARD FOR THE WELFARE OF OTHERS

Yes, and the regular resort to sanctions is surely a sign of
criminal mentality, a form of mental illness.

In private life, if you are unhappy with the politics or
attitudes of a neighbor or fellow worker, no sensible person would agree that
you are entitled to sabotage their economic welfare, much less the welfare of
all those living with or associated with that person.

This becomes even more true when we are dealing with
millions of people in another land, most of whom have nothing to do with the
imposing government's demands.

Political arguments between countries should have nothing to
do with the economy and trade. To get at the decisions of one or two or a dozen
people you don’t like, you don’t decide to hurt millions, unless your thinking
is criminal.

Note how the greatest use of economic sanctions is by the
United States, the world's most aggressive and demanding state, a state, which
in virtually all of its international relations, tries to impose its way of
looking at things, bend previously-negotiated rules to its own advantage, and
just generally makes every effort to squeeze extra advantages or gains from its
sheer size and power - a pattern which in everyday life we call bullying.

The greatest use of economic sanctions by a small country is
likely that of Israel, America’s unofficial colony in the Middle East. The
attitudes and motives behind their use are the same as those for its colossus
mother country, to get your own way over others and having nothing to do with
fairness or principles. In other words, bullying.

The act of imposing economic sanctions is simply a form of
aggression, nothing else. They involve no ethics or morals or principles
despite the advertising claims made for them. They do not serve democratic
values or human rights or even demonstrate the simplest respect for other
people and their institutions. They are used by the United States and Israel to
force compliance from others without resorting to open warfare, something
itself so extensively used by both countries that they stand in danger of
revolting the world’s people.

In addition, sanctions just make the world a poorer place by
shrinking trade and jobs. They are the opposite of free trade agreements. And
today’s world already is regarded by many observers as being near the edge of a
deep economic pit, so it hardly needs anti-trade and prosperity measures.

But the US has long indulged itself in using these measures
against any country it doesn't like, paying no attention to the consequences or
to rational argument. Such is the distorting force on thought of mumbo-jumbo ideology
and great wealth and power with no effective opposition.

Of course, the only possible exception to this way of
looking at sanctions is when they are used to oppose genuine tyranny or abuse.
That is virtually never the case with America’s many regular uses of them, but
even in the case of tyranny or abuse, sanctions inevitably hurt many innocent
people.